Head coach Alex Beguinet will enter his 31st season at the helm of the Duke program in 2016. Beguinet has compiled a 556-481 (.536) overall record in his 30 years with the Blue Devils and has coached two NCAA Champions.

In Beguinet’s time at Duke, the women’s program has compiled a 260-266 record under his direction and produced one three-time NCAA Champion and five All-Americans, while the men’s program has posted a 296-215 mark with 16 All-Americans and one NCAA Champion. Beguinet has helped Blue Devil fencers reach the NCAA Fencing Championships in 29 of his 30 years while sending 100 participants to the national championships.

In 2015, the Duke fencing teams sent a program-best seven student-athletes to the NCAA Fencing Championships, led by freshman saber Pascual Di Tella’s fifth-place performance. The Blue Devils placed ninth as a team, earning their fifth top-10 finish in the past six seasons. The 2015 campaign also saw the return of the ACC Fencing Championships, where both the Duke men and women finished second behind Notre Dame. In the individual competitions, Di Tella and fellow freshmen Jan Maceczek (foil) and Dean Ischiropoulos (epee) earned bronze medals, while freshman Haley Fisher (saber) placed fourth. The men ended the regular season with a 16-5 record, while the women finished 17-6.

Beguinet mentored one of the most successful fencers in NCAA history in three-time NCAA Saber Champion, alum Becca Ward. Ward, who won the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, reached the NCAA Championship match in each of her four seasons. She won the 2009, 2011 and 2012 NCAA titles while finishing as runner-up in 2010.

Beguinet served at US Fencing’s annual summer Junior Olympic Training Camps as a staff member for 10 years, served as coach for several International Cadet Championships and World Championships, and also participated as a coach at the fencing events for seven Olympic Festivals.

Alex Beguinet was the Director of the US Fencing Association’s coaching education program, Coaches College, from 1993 until the program was dissolved in 2011, and was a member of the education staff since the program, held annually at US Olympic Training Centers, was first implemented in 1985.

Born in Toulouse, France, Maitre Beguinet received his Master of Arms Degree from the National Sports Institute in Paris in 1976. Beguinet came to Duke after serving eight years as the head fencing coach at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore.

Beguinet was the owner/director of Salle La Boessiere in Portland from 1980-84. While there, in addition to coaching for Lewis and Clark College in Portland, he coached at Portland Community College, Clark College in Vancouver, Wash., Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore., and instructed for the city of Portland’s Park Bureau.

He lives with his wife, Elizabeth, on their recently acquired abandoned farm, restoring it to working order. They have one daughter, Heather, who is a Duke alumnae.